Global Policy Forum

By Afshin Valinejad

Tehran, Iran - Iran's foreign minister said Thursday that his government sought better trade relations with the United States, particularly the removal of bans on Iranian goods. "We would welcome the lifting of US sanctions on Iranian goods and would consider it as a positive move," Kamal Kharrazi told a Tehran news conference.

He was responding to this week's Los Angeles Times report that Washington was considering lifting its ban on Iranian carpets, pistachios and caviar - its three biggest exports after oil and gas - following the victory of Iranian reformists in last month's legislative polls. Many reformists welcome better ties with the United States. "We have always said that Iran is interested in trade with US firms. When the United States eased sanctions (last April) to allow sales of wheat and medicines to Iran, we made that conditional on the opening of the US market to Iranian goods. Trade is a two-way street," Kharrazi said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin told reporters Wednesday that Iran has been trading with the United States. "Iran has been purchasing US agricultural and medical products since (April)," Rubin said.

Rubin declined to comment on the newspaper report, but said "we're looking at ways to engage Iran in a dialogue and to recognize the important changes that are taking place there." Kharrazi said that if US trade sanctions were to be lifted, "it would be a big victory" for Iran.

The abolition of the ban would be a major step of reconciliation between the United States and Iran. The two nations broke relations in April 1980, five months after Iranian militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran and held its occupants hostage. Besides barring trade with Iran, the United States has legislation that imposes sanctions on foreign companies that invest $20 million or more a year in Iran's oil and gas sectors

The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism, trying to sabotage Middle East peacemaking and seeking to amass weapons of mass destruction. Iran rejects the accusations. Its government says there can be no talks with Washington until it treats Iran with respect and releases Iranian assets, valued at $12 billion, frozen in American banks since the 1979 Islamic revolution.